UMass Looks For A-10 Title As La Salle Visits• A win today would give the UMass women’s lacrosse team its third Atlantic 10 Regular-Season title in four years as the La Salle Explorers visit McGuirk Stadium at 4 PM. The Explorers are fighting for a tournament slot and need at least one win this weekend coupled with George Washington and Temple losses.• UMass has won seven consecutive games entering today’s match-up. The Minutewomen have also won 16 straight A-10 games and 14 consecutive at home. The last Atlantic 10 team to defeat UMass was La Salle in the 2010 regular-season finale at McGuirk Stadium. The Minutewomen went on to face the Explorers in the next game which was the Atlantic 10 Semifinals en route to the second of UMass’ past three A-10 Championship Titles.

Ferris Sets Pair Of Records• Against Saint Joseph’s, sophomore Katie Ferris set a new single-season point record for the Minutewomen. Her five goal, one assist day pushed her past Whitney Thayer whose 1981 total of 74 points had been the gold standard for 31 years. Ferris then set the single-season assist record with a six-helper day against St. Bonaventure giving her 35 for the year breaking the previous record of 34 set by Cari Nickerson (1980) and Whitney Thayer (1981).• Ferris needs five goals to break her own UMass single-season record for goals in a year (56).• Ferris also needs 13 more points to become the first-ever play in program history to crack the 100-point plateau for a single-season.

Next Up: Temple• UMass will hit the road for one last time before the Atlantic 10 Tournamen when the Minutewomen travel to Philadelphia to take on Temple this Sunday. A win today against La Salle for UMass will give the Minutewomen the No. 1 seed in the A-10 Tournament. Temple needs to win both games this weekend along with losses for Duquesne and George Washington to make the A-10 Tournament.

Honoring The 1982 National Champions• Last Sunday, UMass honored the 1982 NCAA Championship Team - winners of the first-ever national championship sponsored by the NCAA. That year, UMass was a perfect 10-0 and defeated Trenton State 9-6 to become the first NCAA National Championship team at UMass. That team remains one of just three from UMass to win an NCAA National Championship.

Palmer Named Defensive Player Of the Week• Kelsey Palmer was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Minutemen defeat Saint Joseph’s 19-4. The four goals allowed were the fewest of the season as Palmer anchored the back row with a pair of caused turnovers and a pair of groundballs. For Palmer, it marked her first career weekly honor from the conference.

Ferris Picks Up 4th A-10 Weekly Honor• After scoring 13-points and helping the No. 15 UMass women’s lacrosse team to a pair of league wins, Katie Ferris was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday. Ferris recorded nine goals and four assists to pick up her fourth Player of the Week honor this season. Ferris is the first player in program history to earn A-10 Performer of the Week honors four-or-more times in one season.

Ferris, Houlis Earn A-10 Honors After UNH, SHU Wins• Katie Ferris Earned her second Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honor of the season, while Ali Houlis was named the Defensive Player of the Week following the Minutewomen’s wins over New Hampshire and Sacred Heart. Ferris had a 17-point week with 9 goals and 8 assists shooting 75 percent. Houlis led the defense which allowed a combined 12 goals, while collecting 10 groundballs, causing three turnovers, earning 4 draw controls and recording one assist.

Guarino Earns A-10 honors After BU, Marist Wins• Tanner Guarino was named the Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week following her seven goal, two assist effort in the wins over Boston University and Marist. She shot 70% for the week and had the game-winning goals in both games. Against the Terriers, she had four goals and an assist, while she followed that up with three goals and an assist against the Red Foxes.

Ferris Earns Weekly Honors Following Holy Cross Win• After her 10 point game last weekend against Holy Cross, Katie Ferris was named the Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week and the UMass Athlete of the Week. Her seven goals and three assists marked the most points scored by any player in the country to date.

Go With The `Flo’• Katie Florence enters her fourth season as UMass’ starting goalie with a career record of 50-22, a goals-against-average of 9.98 and a .424 save percentage. She ranks 2nd all-time at UMass with 540 saves (Jen Nardi ranks 1st all-time with 600), while her 50 wins is by far a program record (Nardi is 2nd with 26). Last year, Florence had the best campaign of her career with a 8.80 goals-against-average, a .460 save percentage, and 137 saves. Florence ranked 19th nationally in save percentage, 10th in GAA, 56th in saves per game and 36th in total saves last year.

No Sophomore Slump For Ferris• Katie Ferris picked up the 2012 season where she left the 2011 campaign - in the goals’ scored column. In the season-opener against Holy Cross, the sophomore scored seven goals and added three assists for a career-high 10 points. She followed that up three games later with another 10-point game with 5 goals and 5 assists in the win over New Hampshire.• Ferris leads the Atlantic 10 in overall points and assists, while ranking 2nd in goals. She is No. 1 in the NCAA for points, 5th in overall goals, and 8th in assists.• Ferris proved herself to be one of the top rookies not only in the Atlantic 10, but in the entire country last season. As a freshman, Ferris was 2nd on the team in points (72) and first in goals (56). She ranked 12th nationally in goals per game (3.24) and 10th in overall goals. She led all freshmen nationally in goals per game, while leading the A-10 in goals per game and points per game.• She holds the UMass single-season record for goals with 56.

Record Setting Year For Offense• With the season hitting the home stretch, UMass is on pace for another record breaking year on offense. The Minutewomen have already put up 243 goals and 361 points which is on pace to break last season’s record performances.• UMass set a school-record for goals in a single season with 293 last season besting the previous record by 83 goals. The previous record is 210 set in 2009.• UMass was just 20 goals shy of tying the 15th-best single-season mark in NCAA history (Duke, 2009, 313 goals).• UMass also set a school-record for points in a season (388). The previous record was 308 set back in 1978 - one of the oldest team records to be broken.• That leaves the team assist record of 129 - also set in 1978 - as the oldest official record yet to be broken at UMass. The Minutewomen have 118 helpers this season - so that too could get an update in the UMass record book at the end of the season.• UMass’ 16 goals scored in each game of the A-10 Tournament was also a new league record along with the 32 combined goals for the championship weekend.

Defense In Top Form• While the offense gets much of the publicity, the UMass defense is also among the best in the country. UMass has the 11th ranked scoring defense allowing just 9.07 goals per game. Only five teams have reached double-figures against the Minutewomen this season. UMass also ranks 16th in caused turnovers (8.73/game) and 1st in draw controls (17.6/game).

Sarcona Key In Draw Circle• One of the key’s to UMass’ offensive and defensive success comes in Nina Sarcona being one of the country’s best draw control specialists. Sarcona ranks 4th nationally with 5.9 wins individually, but her ability to place the ball where he teammates can win possession has been key. The Northport, N.Y. native has 163 draw controls for her career which broke the UMass record held previously by Meghan Reddy (2006-09, 124). Her 10 draw controls against St. Bonaventure gave her 83 for the season breaking Reddy’s single season mark of 77 set in 2009.

Terracciano Having A Breakout Season On Offense• Lauren Terracciano is in the midst of her best season offensively as she is the Minutewomen’s second leading scorer in 2011. Her 26 goals and 18 assists are both season bests for her career. She also has one of the most accurate shots on the team scoring her 26 goals on just 40 shots - a .650 shooting percentage.

McGuirk Magic• UMass enters its sixth year playing at McGuirk Alumni Stadium and is 29-16 all-time at the facility. So far in 2012, UMass is 9-0 at McGuirk. Last year, UMass was 7-2 at home.• UMass is not scheduled to play any games this spring at Garber Field which is the home of the men’s lacrosse team and the field hockey team. The women’s lacrosse team previously played there until 2007.

UMass Building Upon A-10 Success• UMass is 27-6 in the Atlantic 10 over the last fours seasons (including 2012) which includes three A-10 Tournament Titles (2009, 2010, 2011), two regular-season title (2009, 2011) and one tournament runner-up finish (2008).• Since the loss against La Salle to end the 2010 regular season, UMass has won 16 consecutive A-10 games.• In addition to the past two A-10 Titles, UMass also won the A-10 title in 2000.• All-time, UMass is 62-29 (.633) in the Atlantic 10 and 10-7 (.533) in the A-10 Tournament. UMass has the 2nd most regular-season wins behind Temple (70).

CBS3 Now To Televise Select Home Women’s Lax games• UMass athletics is pleased to announce that select women’s lacrosse games will be televised live in Western Massachusetts on CBS3 Now which can be viewed on Comcast 293 and Charter 230. The games are part of a 100-game package of all UMass sports which are shown on the CBS digital channel.

Streaming Video• Can’t make a home game? Have friends and family back home who want to keep up with the Minutewomen? Sign up for the UMass All-Access Package and you can watch every home game live on the Internet. Along with live games, fans can check out interviews with the coaches and players, news highlights, and feature stories on the team.

Order UMass Action Photos• UMass is pleased to offer fans the chance to purchase action photos from all women’s lacrosse photo galleries that are posted on UMassAthletics.com. When viewing the photo gallery, simply click the “Buy Now” tab to order the photo from Replay Photos. You can choose custom sizes, frames and other options. These make great birthday, holiday or graduation gifts!

Sign Up For The Lacrosse E-mail List• Want to get all the latest information on the women’s lacrosse team delivered straight to your E-Mail Inbox? Sign up for the UMass Women’s Lacrosse E-Mail List and you will received game previews, recaps and feature stories delivered straight to you. To sign up, send an e-mail with the subject line “Sign Up For Women’s Lacrosse E-Mail List” to jsinnett@admin.umass.edu.